


One Day At Time

by BunnyPuppet, Lursilva



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Graphic Description of Injuries, Hospitalization, Hurt Peter Parker, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, I'm fixing this shit, Irondad, May is Scared, Mechanical Members, Mental Breakdown, Nightmares, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Peter Needs a Hug, Phantom pain, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Tony Stark, Scared Peter Parker, Scars, Spoilers, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, but i'm sorry, spiderson, stump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-04 21:02:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21204062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunnyPuppet/pseuds/BunnyPuppet, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lursilva/pseuds/Lursilva
Summary: Five years ago Tony heard Stephen Strange say that they would win in only a future of 14,000,605, but apparently he was not counting on the impulsiveness of a little spider. And now with the future changed not even the supreme wizard knows what awaits them in the days to come.OrBefore Tony wears the infinity stones and gets the full impact of his power, Peter clings to him and the force is split between the two heroes. Thanos is dead, the battle is over, but Tony is alive, and Stephen is worried about the future he is unaware of.





	1. Season 1 - Changing The Future. Chapter 1 - Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> Hello guys! I may or may not have run a marathon of all of the marvel movies shortly after leaving Endgame and I still didn't settle for the ending, so it came out.  
A lot of ideas came to mind and I just had to put it on paper (or here on the site) so here I am posting this.  
The story will be big! Very large, slow burn, seasons (with no stipulated chapters for each) with different focuses and (I hope) good writing.  
I really hope you enjoy this, because I am enjoying writing to you anyway, enjoy!  
Oh, a last thing, this story don't have a Beta Reader, if you want to be one, PM me.
> 
> Good reading.

Peter watched the entire army stop for a second, and then begin to retreat, no, focus his attack on someone else, and seeing in the distance, his heart began to beat faster with adrenaline, Mr. Stark, Captain America, Thor and a girl he didn't know but who helped him and was certainly very strong was fighting Thanos, trying to stop him from taking the glove. It was right _there_ and when he thought of trying to catch it, it settled into Thanos's hands and he held his breath, a thousand thoughts running through his head and one fear that was apparently very real. He was going to disappear once again.

But then as he knocked over one of the bestial aliens, Mr. Stark grabbed the gauntlet, then being thrown away by the titan. When the man stood up, showing the stones that were slowly readjusted by nanotechnology on his mentor's glove, Peter ran. Jumping through the bestials, dodging warriors and heroes, helping a black dread girl who seemed to have a problem with one of the aliens, closing his big mouth with his webs, but besides, he didn't even look back.

“And I am…” Peter heard him speak and held his breath, quickening his pace, his sixth sense giving him a real headache with the frantic tingling in the back of his neck. Peter's gaze locked with Mr. Stark's, and he saw the man arch in pain as the stones fixed on his glove. 10 meters, 7 meters, he would arrive on time, he needed. Tony Stark opened his mouth. “Iron Man.”

It was at this moment that Peter embraced him, and a metallic snap of his fingers seemed to silence the whole battlefield, while the man and the teenager were punished for the force of their actions.

Suddenly Peter felt as if his body was being burned from the inside out, and his grip on Tony tightened as he threw his head back and screamed, his head seemed to explode and then regenerate so that it could shatter again, the bones of his body felt like it was breaking and then reassembling with the blood bubbling inside his veins, rising in his throat in great hot swallows. It could have only lasted a second, but the pain, that seemed to be on her skin for years.

His very aching and exhausted body - surely he felt he was dying - broke free of Mr. Stark and fell to the ground smelling of gunpowder and blood, his blood? He couldn't tell, or at least could think coherently at that moment, his breath coming out of gasp and hardly between his parted lips, through his tongue with iron taste and trying to get some oxygen in his charred lungs, but regretting _breathing_ when the smell of dust and gunpowder looked a hundred times worse and descended through the airways like sandpaper.

The sound was loud and distorted, even the slightest movement as quiet as a bang in his sensitive ears, and Peter feared his eardrums might explode at any moment and his head would simply crumble in pain, so when something that seemed too heavy hit the ground with a “_clang_” and his body jumped slightly he realized that it wasn't just his head hurting, his whole body seemed to be being crushed inside that tight and suffocating outfit, and he didn't know if he was really screaming, like he thought he was but the agony of the moment gave him that feeling.

“Hey, _hey_! Tony, kid, you need to stay up! My _God_ what were you thinking?!" Did Peter know that voice, was it from the Combat Machine, Colonel Rhodes? He couldn't know why he was so loud and distorted in his ears. Peter wanted to cry. The man was silent for a moment and Peter almost thought it was his own conscience finally coming out when the man spoke again, very loudly. "That's it boy, stay-"

And then he touched him, and the metal glove on his arm caused an agony almost similar to the one he had minutes ago, and this time he knew he screamed, as loud as his strangely contracted lungs allowed, stopping suddenly when blood rising in his throat made him gurgle, _oh my God he can’t breath_.

The hand came out immediately as new noisy steps approached and Peter only knew he was crying when a sob passed between his bloody lips. If it were at a normal time, he would be truly embarrassed now that he was crying in front of so many heroes, but he was in such pain that he couldn't muster the strength to care. _And he still can’t breath, God, why? Why did his chest hurt this much?_

Someone knelt in front of him and then something truly warm and comfortable covered his ears the slightest sound barely passing him, it was good, soothing, he could almost relax a little, so once again they tried to touch him and sleep was ripped from him by another scream followed by aching sobs. _God_, he just wanted it to stop, and he didn't even know why he was in such _pain_.

"He's having severe sensory overload, no one touches him!" That muffled voice was recognizable now without the interference of his senses he could know that it was Mr. Dr. Strange speaking. Yes, it would be all right, all was well, but everything was very painful, he was tired, his eardrums would not explode, so Peter breathed - as deep as his aching body allowed him - and let unconsciousness take him when tiredness overcame the pain.

"Damn, kid! Colonel, we don't have much time, bring King T'Challa here right now!” Dr. Stephen Strange yells at Rhodes who immediately closes his armor mask to fly across the destroyed field and the rest of the enemy army turning to dust. "Tony, _Stark_! Hey you gotta stay awake, Stark, but don't try to move, it's gonna be alright, alright…”

Tony heard Strange say that but couldn't associate anything, it hurt so much, a pain he had never felt before, his blood seemed to burn, he couldn't feel his arm or half his face, it was hard to breathe, it was hard to keep his eyes open and even if he kept them, it was very cloudy, very bright, his ears were ringing, the voices around him seemed to be spoken underwater, and he was so tired, _so tired_.

And besides, sitting against the rubble, he could see the child at his feet, trembling and unconscious, with tears streaming silently from the corners of his eyes. Tony closed his eyes and turned his face, the feeling of failure settling in his chest as the pain mixed with sleep tried to drag him down, and then unconsciousness really seemed appealing if it were to take it all away.

“Damn it.” Stephen sighed, lowering his head as Pepper landed in front of Tony, eyes already full of unshed tears, looking from her husband to the boy she helped not long ago now.

“They are…”

"No, just unconscious, but they need care right away." He announced as Rhodes arrived not only with the king but also the princess of Wakanda, both nodding in confirmation. All losing the way Shuri's gaze lingered a little longer on Peter.

Rising with the cloak parting from his body, Stephen ordered her to curl up in Tony as he levitated the child through the portal already created within the castle.

"That's bad, we have to hurry." Shuri warned after partially analyzing the mangled arm of Tony and Strange nodded, then passing the wounded through the portal, next to the king and princess, plus Pepper and Rhodes.

-

When they arrived at Princess Shuri's lab, he saw her bark at the other scientists and doctors about the emergence of the situation and orders each of them what to do.

Tony's unconsciousness seemed too good to be true, so when the man woke up floundering in pain one of the scientists approaching to give Tony something that could relax his body.

"He's not sleeping, he _needs_ sleep, why isn't he sleeping?!" She screamed at her assistants as if the man's fault for not sleeping was theirs, but Stephen knew better, and apparently Pepper too, in his eyes. The woman approaching to touch Tony's still good hand, the man looking away from her and slowly stopping his already groggy frantic movements.

"P..et'r ...”

"He'll be fine, you can sleep now Tony, he'll be okay ..." Pepper whispered seeing how almost instantaneous it was, Tony closed his eyes, and soon he was out of tune with the world around him. Strange saw the exact moment when the woman began to panic, deciding to intervene soon, before it became too dangerous.

"He's just sleeping, calm down and get away, we need to take care of it fast." Pepper stared at him in panic for a second before nodding profusely. Then when she was out of reach, the specialists began to work, Shuri approaching.

"Scan it." She spoke firmly, and the place where Tony was lying shone bright blue light all over her body. “Diagnosis.”

Immediately a hologram came across the medical team with a list of the injuries. Strange approaching to watch.

"There are no neurological injuries but he's having a hypotensive shock¹," 50x30 pressure, multiple fractured ribs on the right, massive pleural effusion² on the left, and a ruptured spleen. We need to have emergency surgery.

"You heard the lazy man!"

"Give them 6mg of midazolam³ for both of them and intubate." We have five minutes to start with Stark or he dies.” Strange told the aides nonstop for a moment to worry about those room occupants who weren't helping, aka Tony's wife and his best friend.

"Brother get them out of here, they'll just get in the way." Strange heard Shuri speak as if reading his mind and smiled.

"Madam, the child's blood pressure is 80x60 and falling!" One of the men who took care of Peter spoke while T'Challa tried to persuade the others to leave and Shuri cursed loudly, running from Tony to Peter to reapply the medication that should already be taking effect. “70x50!”

"Why do medicines have no effect?!"

"Peter is an enhanced child, his body has a higher recovery rate than Captain America, so normal drugs haven’t effect!" Rhodes who was trying to escape the king's clutches to stay in the room warned. Those who looked after Peter pausing a second to pay attention.

“Why did not you say it before?! You, take the medicines we use on my brother, and can anyone please get this thing out of him?!” She shouted going from Peter's table to Tony. "Any surprises about him too?"

"No, he is just human." Pepper provided helpfully and Shuri nodded before hearing Strange speak.

“We'll need 18mg of etomidate, 150mg of propofol and 96mg of Sugamadex, anesthetist, take care of it at once.” She heard Strange speak to the nurses around her, gesturing vaguely to Tony and turning back to Peter, Rhodes getting closer. enough to touch the spider on Peter's chest and make all nanotechnology retract into a small metal pouch that Rhodes pulled away from his body, touching the ordinary uniform spider again to make him loose from his body, wishing that The boy had something underneath while pulling the fabric from his body, but could no longer worry about it as he saw the large purple spots covering almost the entire front of his body. "He's having an internal bleed!"

"Computer, scan!" Shuri spoke typing a hologram screen and as with Tony, the table shone until a list appeared in front of Shuri. "Most of the left side ribs are fractured or broken, your left lung has been punctured, your bowel ruptured, third and second degree burns on your left arm and neck, and there is also something ... computer, digitize your brain activities."

In a moment the light shone again under Peter's head and soon a very realistic new hologram of the child's brain was shown.

“Impressive.” Stephen blurted out his medical side beyond the high wizard, finding all technology very interesting, especially to a neurosurgeon like him.

"Show brain activity." The image immediately changed, showing the neurons and their ligaments. “Wow… your brain is working too fast for the unconscious.

“Sensory nerve cells are going crazy, he was having a sensory overload before, probably from the overstimulation caused by being in contact with Tony while he was wearing the jewels.” Strange informed before Shuri could say something, seeing her nod.

"Anesthetist! Use on him the medicines we use on my brother, meanwhile, I want them to prepare him for surgery too, Dr. Strange, we'll have to take turns.”

"I can't do surgery, but leave me with a good professional and I will guide him through the process." Shuri nodded.

"Bokihana!" Follow all orders from Dr. Strange during the kid's surgery while I will accompany Stark.” A woman who was finishing dressing Peter nodded, Stephen liked his determined look. "Very well, who here will not help want out of this room and isolate the area, we need to take them to surgery at once!"

At one point Pepper and Rhodes, who were all gaping and startled, were dragged out of the room by T'Challa, too absorbed by the situation to try to fight more or argue. They had to rely on the ability of Shuri, Stephen and the rest of the team now.

-

T'Challa waited outside the laboratory, looking as patient as possible from the outside, even though his heart was anxious to consume him little by little. Glancing back expectantly for news, and couldn't help but feel a little frustrated to see the woman who had been forced out of the room with slumped shoulders and pale face, one hand leaning weakly against the wall while the other rested in her heart. Too distracted to see him approach.

"Pepper Potts, right?" Her voice seemed to startle the woman, though she tried to accentuate the kindness as she jumped away as she had just returned to the battlefield, but when she saw that she wasn't being attacked, she relaxed. “You don't have to worry about fights here, Wakanda is a safe place.”

"Actually it's Pepper _Stark_ Potts now, but, thanks… I know your majesty, but…"

"Just T'Challa, please, Pepper Stark."

“Right.” She smiled, visibly relaxing with casualness and sympathy. “I… I don't know if I should have come, my daughter is on her way to the complex now with Happy and so much has happened and now Tony…”

“Tony Stark is in great hands, I'd tell you not to worry, but I believe it's impossible?” She spoke as softly as she could trying to pull some humor in and the woman even smiled a little but was still pale and scared. "Why don't we have some tea? I believe my mother will be happy to feed us all, Mr. Colonel Rhodes, to accompany us as well.”

“But…”

"I will ask you to warn me as soon as it is over, meanwhile, I think you need some rest and I will provide a way to contact your daughter."

It was enough to make Pepper relax completely, she needed to talk to Happy, ask if he could bring Morgan in and try to know what happened after the battle. Rhodes approached her and without thinking very well Pepper hugged him, urgently needing some comfort from someone known.

"It'll be all right, Pepper." He whispered to her, squeezing her small body and hoping his words would have power, for he really hoped everything would be all right. Not only with Tony, but also with Peter, not knowing what would be of his best friend if the boy couldn't resist.

Slowly, T'Challa led them down the corridor, starting a rather casual conversation as he tried to distract them from current events, hoping that his sister would succeed.

-

Shuri had just washed and gloved his hands after changing, looking at the numb man in front of him and seeing if everything was ready. On the other side Dr. Strange, who had done the same, was beginning to give her orders and she realized that she should do the same. Mistaken who thought that Shuri specialized only in biochemistry and biotechnology, having a superior photographic memory, unmatched intelligence, a curiosity and a relentless willingness to learn, Shuri graduated from so many college courses she got by finishing high school at the end from his thirteen years old, going to the local college at fourteen and majoring in medicine, biology and chemistry at eighteen, specializing in surgical at nineteen.

She was capable, and so she was there.

"D'Jaumi, blade 10!"

He ordered, then made an incision in the abdomen while the thoracic surgeon took care of the pleural effusion. Realizing how evident it was that the jewels were charged with a truly powerful energy that in contact with the skin formed an electric current that burned much of Stark's right side outward, mostly his arm. Orthopedists tried to save by rebuilding nevi and vessels, but it seemed to be useless.

Meanwhile, one by one the team was debriding (4) the jewels burned while Shuri, though without much hope, tried to save the spleen.

"I need one more Kelly forceps (5) here!"

“Are you going to try a lower gastric arteriorrhaphy? (6)” A man, Nehuda, asked quickly.

"I'll try, but I don't know if you'll hold back." Besides, he's just one of the bleeding ones. Increase suction power.

Then, in a second when he raised his head slightly to take a deep breath, his hand gave an involuntary tremor and cut the lower gastric artery. Immediately, the monitor beeps, showing a sudden drop in pressure. Shuri swore.

"It's no use, we have to get the spleen out." Bring two bags of blood and one liter of Ringer Lactate. (7)

They acted fast, or as fast as surgery of this caliber could be done, and soon their clothes and masks were soaked with blood and sweat, but they were pleased that they succeeded, thinking that the worst was over.

Just thought ...

Shuri was just removing a dead portion of the large intestine, just closing the straps, and when they were going to start closing the abdomen ...

"Madam, the patient is fibrillating!"

"Charge the defibrillator at 150 J!"

Rubbing the paddles Shuri waited for the energy to charge before positioning the objects and giving the shock. No change, still in fibrillation.

"Start chest compressions another two minutes!"

She ordered seeing D'Jaumi compress her chest as hard as she could. It didn't take much because several ribs were already broken, making it easy to sink into the chest. Exhausted after two minutes and the fibrillation persisting, Shuri let out a curse and ordered another shock.

“200 J now!”

When no change occurred after the second shock, the princess could only think quickly how she should not have celebrated ahead of time.

-

It was almost 15 hours after Tony started his surgery that Shuri was able to leave her side, tired, sweaty, but fulfilled and pleased, because she had succeeded! She really managed to save the life of the person who helped bring not only her, but also her brother and half of the entire universe back, and no matter how tired, physically and psychologically she was, she would stay another 15 if she went. need.

Her next destination was the boy, she knew he was as bad as he looked. And while her priority was different, that wasn't to say she wasn't curious about the condition of the person who fought alongside her brother a few years ago - or maybe many years ago, only five had passed since she was dusted by Thanos. - and saved her life a few hours ago.

In the hallway, facing a door - Shuri figured it could be the spider boy's, they transferred him when he woke up screaming in the middle of surgery the first time, even the medicine for his improved brother was ineffective - his brother was sitting . He looked as exhausted as she was, and he hadn't even been up for fifteen hours doing an operation. As she approached, he turned toward her, and Shuri was ready to make a very sarcastic comment when she saw him smile, and, well, she could leave the jokes for later, right? She recently discovered that they could have been dust blowing in the wind forever. Literally.

"Hey…" he called affectionately, and Shuri couldn't help but smile back, sitting next to him.

"Hey… that's crazy huh." Commented, sitting next to his brother, pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them. "Aliens."

"Aliens." He answered, some amusement in his voice. "How is Stark?"

“Will live.” She said casually, which made the king relax considerably. “You know, it's weird to come into _my_ lab and not recognize anything inside since I had only left it a few hours ago.

"Well, for the others it was 5 years."

"I knooow, but it's still weird." Shuri moaned and T'Challa laughed, soft and contained, turning back to the door, she following his gaze. "How is the boy?"

“Bad.” T'Challa sighed. "My remedies don't have much more effect on him than usual, his fast-paced body burned it every two or three hours, he was in pain and under a lot of stress, and Dr. Strange was only able to finish it with Bokihana within two hours, we don’t knew what to do about it when we couldn't make him relax long enough to think of a solution.”

"That sucks. Why do you look like death?” She commented and T'Challa looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Sorry, too soon?" She laughed, and then continued to laugh as he started poking the side of her waist until she slapped his hand. "Do you want me to take a look at the white wolf cub?"

She asked genuinely worried after a few minutes of silence. Seeing his brother shake his head no.

"Lucky for us, and him, he also has an advanced cure, the burns are healing fast, and the internal damage after treatment has begun to heal almost immediately, the rest, well, will slowly heal as well, he don't wake up at ... almost five o'clock now, must have finally had some rest.”

"Okay, so I think there's someone who must be eager to see us." She commented, using the support wall to get up, extending a hand to T'Challa and helping him up too, surprised when he pulled her into a hug.

"Welcome back, little sister."

“You too, brother…”

Shuri could totally blame his tiredness for the tears that came to his eyes from the contact and his brother's affection, she wasn't like that, so yes, definitely tiredness. Still, she ran the back of her hands over her eyes as T'Challa pulled away, one arm still around her shoulders guiding her away.

"By the way, we'll have to change all the people here."

“Do not play! Do you believe I learned how to tinker with one of the new machines in 5 seconds and the guy helping me couldn't do it in 5 years? I wonder who was running it here while I was gone, it's a shame…”

While T'Challa smiled, Shuri spoke and complained about the staff helping her by gesturing with her hands and laughing with a sarcastic comment or two from her brother. If she felt her eyes burn again with the familiarity and relief of being there, alive, she didn't show it.

-

The room T'Challa had arranged for the guests to wait was a little fuller than he had seen a few hours ago, a little girl on Pepper's lap and a burly white man trying to reassure a long-haired woman who was crying in her shoulder.

"Gentlemen, ladies, my sister, Shuri, would like to announce the outcome of the surgery." T'Challa warned and Pepper soon got up, leaving Morgan with Rhodes and running to their side.

“And then? For God's sake, no suspense. Whatever it is, I can handle it.” She don’t look like she can handle it, but Shuri told her everything anyway.

"Mrs. Potts, Mr. Stark arrived here in very serious condition. He had several broken ribs, bleeding from his spleen and in shock. Unfortunately your right arm has no way to save you, we will have to amputate in an upcoming surgery when your body is strong enough for it. We gave him blood in the middle of the surgery, there were some complications and we had to remove the spleen and a part of the bowel.

By this point Pepper was already silently crying, there were things she said she didn't even understand, and Shuri's earlier words still haunted her a little.

_"We have five minutes to start this surgery or he dies!"_

That phrase haunted her all day.

“He is...”

Couldn't ask, too shaken to finish the sentence, was it serious? But she talked about an upcoming surgery, so...

“He is alive. But the chart inspires cares...”

This time it was Shuri who couldn't finish speaking, interrupted by a tight and grateful hug.

“Thank you. Thank you very much! It wasn't just his life that you saved…” He spoke with emotion, releasing her to take Morgan in his arms, the slightly shy girl in front of the new people hiding in her mother's neck, not understanding why she was crying, but not enjoying the view.

Shuri soon explained that Tony would still need long hospitalization and care, as well as surgery for arm amputation, which cannot be done by successive cardiac arrests. He would recover, the worst was over. This time for good.

The mood of the place was truly animated by most of the staff, so the long-haired woman stood up, and half unsteadily walked over to them, tears still in her eyes holding tightly to Shuri's hands.

"And my baby? What happened to my Pete?”


	2. Unconscious Consciousness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T'Challa's medications end up not having as much effect on Peter as this should and the kid wakes up in the middle of the surgery, scaring Stephen and those who're helping him. On the other hand, May thinks she didn't really subscribe to this whole hero story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the visualizations, favorites, kudos and reviews, you guys really surprised me, It was more than I expected, were almost 900 visualisations, more than 40 kudos, a lot of favorites and reviews, really guys, you made me very happy with this story!  
So I will leave the second chapter here, and forgive me for the delay. Since English is not my first language, it takes a long time to translate the chapters, but I will try to do it as fast as I can!  
Good Reading!

_12 hours before_

When Peter felt his conscience coming, the first thing he thought was that he couldn't remember actually lying down to sleep.

The second thing was that his body hurt terribly. Now Peter had a pretty long history of injuries, from Flash's punches to the alley stabbings trying to stop a robbery with a shot or two and then the cherry on top, having a building falling on him and an accident of plane - which he himself provoked. The last two things were the scariest in his last 16 years of life, and then he went into space and had to survive a battle with a genocidal purple alien who had enough power to make a moon fall on him.

Immediately the recent memories came to mind, turning to dust and then back to just a second fight, fighting butchers aliens, almost being blown up, and then…

Peter gasped, or at least tried, the air just didn't come normally and memories of his lung burning and the air being pulled from him made him panic, the pain in his chest even worse when he tried to force a breath, not understanding where he got it from his breath to scream and not really caring about it as he tried to move.

His eyes flew open and he tried again to draw a breath that never came again, then panic set in, and he realized that he could indeed move even if his limbs ached and weighed. His vision was blurry and everything was so bright, he could not recognize this place. He was on the battlefield, right? It must not have been more than a few minutes after he lost consciousness, right?

Peter tried to breathe again and once again could not, he was crushed by a building again and so could not breathe? Maybe Thanos pulled another moon? Or choked him? Wait they were on Earth, he pulled _his_ moon?! He couldn't breathe, couldn't, but was still alive, was confused, so confused, hands came to hold his arms, those he didn't even know he was moving until he tried to repeat the act and failed, and his senses screamed for him to fight harder.

It was a strange place, he couldn't see, couldn't let anyone touch him, but the hands continued to hold him and panic made his eyes start to burn with tears of fear, trying to let out a panicky breath as something stung his arm, but even that he wasn't getting, something was in his mouth, pushed up to his throat.

Has he been captured? Was it being tried? It was all very confusing, but somehow, her body started to relax, was that good? Bad? He couldn't really say and that scared him, he was panicking for a second, right? How did he not care anymore? But even if he wondered that, it was getting harder and harder to actually think about it. Then he felt very tired, sleepy, the already very blurred vision began to darken, so he closed his eyes and let himself be pulled back into unconsciousness when he could not open them anymore.

“What was _this_?" T'Challa - who came back after a few hours helping and comforting Pepper and Rhodes - asked a little shocked, it was only four hours ago, his chest was open while the doctors fixed his ribs, and he woke up as if he had just taken a nap, a long nap. And apparently frightening, where he screamed muffled by the tracheostomy cannula and struggled weakly with the remaining strength. Nor was it time to reapply the medication, in common terms they could have had him sleeping for at least one hour before they had to worry about a new dose since they had done so for at least half an hour.

"He was in shock, his body still not understanding that he is already out of danger. It's not like he's really conscious, he just ... his body reacted instinctively.” Stephen answered calmly, throwing the child's bangs back. “I underestimated your fast metabolism and healing ability. His lung was trying to heal while the bone was still puncturing it, and the cut in his gut is almost completely healed and the blood metabolized the infection by the substances that escaped it.”

"That's… impressive, really." And T'Challa meant that, it was truly amazing how the child could heal so fast, not knowing any kind of superhuman with such ability. "But still, the way he acted didn't look like someone waking up from anesthesia, but ..."

"From a war?" Stephen supplied and T'Challa pursed his lips. "He's sixteen, gone into space, and went from one big battle to another, his body is under a lot of stress, in addition to psychological trauma as well, his brain needs to associate that he no longer has to fight, and if anesthesia is over, waking up while having surgery should be…

“Yes, _yes_…”

"But he received our king's sedatives, that shouldn’t have happened, they are made specifically for an enhanced one." The surgeon doctor Stephen led, Bokihana, said. Looking surprised and intrigued, but not worried, curious, was the right word. It annoyed Stephen a little. The woman saw the boy at the table as something that should be studied, not a patient. Or a child.

"Yes, he's an enhanced, I don't know the details, but he has super strength and improved senses, it may be that his metabolism is different as well, his powers are not equal after all." He explained, not looking away from the boy's chest, watching as they finished closing the hole that the broken rib made in his lung, just to notice how slowly his own body and healing factor slowly mended the fragile tissue.

"Interesting ... maybe I should do tests to calculate the exact amount of medicine so that this incident doesn't happen again." The woman said anxiously, making Strange even more uncomfortable, opening her mouth to express it only to be overtaken by T'Challa himself, his voice coming out calm and controlled but still warning.

"What's your name again?" T'Challa asked and she looked at him, surprised and suspicious.

"Bokihana, sir."

“Right. This is not a test subject, Bokihana, it is a child who saved my life, your king, and needs help. Control your enthusiasm as a scientist and act more like a professional or I'll have to push you away and ask someone else to replace you.”

In a way Stephen was surprised, not expecting such severity, or even that the king had noticed the agitated way the woman worked, but he did, and he took care of it if he would stop to think about how Bokihana visibly paled and he bowed respectfully before continuing his work in silence. Strange felt the corner of his mouth twitch up and looking at T'Challa, saw that he was doing the same.

It took a few hours to know the right amount of medicine to give the boy, and during this time he woke up three times more to Stephen's concern, still as lucid as the first time, choking on the oxygen cannula in his throat helping him. Breathing and panicking every time he opened his eyes. No one could blame him, not as if he was really aware of what was happening the times he woke up, besides that the pain should be really blinding him.

"Peter, don't fight it, it's okay, it's helping you, trust me kid, I'm a doctor, remember?" Stephen tried to reassure him, one hand on his shoulder - the uninjured one - and on his forehead, brushing the sweaty curls back, but it had as much effect as he expected, none, and yet, slowly he saw, while the others professionals worked, as he would have to keep cutting a bond that healed before the procedure was completed, or break a bone that was already starting to heal to put it in place.

So each time, Peter, wide-eyed with dilated pupils, roamed wildly as if still in danger, no matter how much Stephen told him that he was sure, that the battle was over, trying to calm him down. For the minutes - a few minutes, just over two - when he was awake and slowly, with the application of a new round of medication again the child was gone, Strange wished this time for a longer rest, but until he had one specific to Peter's metabolism, he knew it would be useless.

\---

_13 hours before_

Happy was not _happy_ with the situation, not happy _at all_. He was already on his way to where HQ was supposed to be, he and Pepper were, but the woman got an update on her phone hours ago and told him to stop the car to get the armor in the trunk. Half an hour ago Steve had called with an update, and within minutes had received a very desperate call from May Parker, the woman returning from the dead had simply picked up the phone from one of the new people who now inhabited her apartment while they fought, Happy could vaguely notice a discussion about betrayal? He really didn't want to know.

"Happy?! Is Happy Hogan talking? Peter gave me this number a few months ago saying that if I couldn't contact him I could talk to you or Tony but Tony doesn't answer and when I tried to call Peter a random person answered and there are weird people in my apartment and I don't know what is happening!” Happy for a moment thought that the boy was definitely right, when May was stressed, she can make everyone stressed too, and messed with something that he could not explain, maybe the nervousness was giving him indigestion.

"Yes, this is Happy here. Listen to me well, May, I'll pass your building on… I'll need a few hours, I'm really far away now, but I need you to stay where you are, I'll find you.”

“But what happened? Where is Peter? Happy what happened to my son ?!” Happy knew he should tell a lie now, say that the boy was fine, that he was with Tony, that everything would be fine, but he couldn't, not after Steve's call, not after knowing that Peter's life as much as Tony's were close by.

“He was injured, there was a battle…” He could hear May sigh loudly and whisper _oh my god_ broken. "It's bad from what I know, but he's being treated by the best in the world right now."

"Please tell me he wasn't fighting those aliens I saw on TV…"

Happy was silent for a few minutes because, honestly, what else could he do? To lie? Say, "Hey May, of course not, he got hurt preventing a robbery but I'm sure it'll be fine." No, it would be completely ridiculous, and May didn't deserve such a blatant lie.

Happy didn't know he was silent for so long with one hand on the wheel and the other holding the phone to his ear until he felt a nudge at his side, and big brown eyes were staring at him now.

"Uncle Happy, mommy said you can't talk on the phone while driving." The girl said severely, sitting in the child seat in the back seat and Happy sighed.

"I'm sorry, May," he said, his heart pounding when he heard her sigh. "That's exactly what he was doing."

Then he heard a painful sob on the other end of the line and felt his heart fall to the floor. That woman didn't deserve this kind of stress, this pain.

"Happy…"

"Stay where you are, I'll get to you, I need to hang up, I'm driving." He was running, he knew, but there was a drop of truth there, he was driving, with one of the most precious people to his boss - who for a change was on the brink of death again - sitting in the back seat playing in a Starkphone, He needed all his attention on the way now.

"I will wait ..."

Then he hung up, and that was the end of that argument, so Happy went back to the silence, and the absolute certainty that he wasn't happy.

\---

_4 hours before_

May Parker didn't sign up for this, all of it. Partly she had nothing to complain about, at first it was her and Ben, and everything seemed fine, but then became her, Ben and Peter and things finally became perfect. She found that she needed Peter in her life only after she had the over-educated, cheerful, smart, hyperactive little child in her, no matter the headaches and sleepless nights she had given.

Because Peter looked like a normal, healthy child until he had an asthma attack at night and Ben had to drive them to the nearest pajama hospital a week after Richard and Mary died.

Peter was a fragile child who got sick easily, but that changed dramatically when he was fourteen. Now, May knew that things were changing at puberty - she remembers asking Ben to have the conversation with Peter and that the boy didn't look into their eyes for a week and whenever he accidentally made eye contact his cheeks burned red - but she didn't knew they changed this much.

One day he went on a field trip, one in which she and Ben worked hard to pay the expenses, Oscorp Industries opened a visitation in their labs to the students of Midtown High and it was a chance Peter could not miss, but That evening when he came home, tired and panting, sweating cold and practically green, she knew the day would not be easy. One night in the bathroom taking care of a sick teenager later, she woke up at 7 with Ben saying that his fever had not passed, which was unusual since Peter's constant bouts of illness lasted no more than one night.

A check later and they were running with Peter to the hospital again, 40.5 degrees celsius, barely passing through the doors before the teenager fell into a convulsion. It was a sight she and Ben had never forgotten - never - for weeks.

While Peter was in the hospital, his fever reached 42.7 Cº and he convulsed once again, his heart stopped for 30 seconds and May thought hers stopped together at that time, it lasted 3 days, and then on day 4 he woke up, his fever disappeared at night and he opened his eyes as if he had just taken a nap, asking for some more sleep and all when Ben asked if he was awake.

May wasn't a believer, but she would consider it a miracle.

After that things changed dramatically. Peter no longer had asthma - but May hid the inhaler in his backpack before he went to school, stopping only when he started losing one a week. - he didn't get sick anymore, his physique just seemed to have set overnight - the first time she saw his muscles build she wondered if Peter was working out hiding - and he came home late almost every day , his attitude changed a little, becoming a little arrogant and proud, and May thought: Okay, it's just a phase, they would go through it.

But Ben couldn't hold back when Peter fought at school.

Now, they knew about Eugene, or “Flash” Thompson, of course they knew about the boy who tormented Peter at school, they had already talked to the teachers, and the principal, and they made sure they would find a way, so one afternoon the school called saying that Peter and Eugene had fought in the corridors. May panicked, wondering what that kid might have done to his boy, but once there, the only one on the ward was Flash, and Peter was sitting on the bench outside the principal's office with his arms crossed and such a look ugly and _not Peter_ she freaked out a little, she had never seen it on her face before.

That night they had an argument. May didn't flutter, leaving Ben to speak, but maybe she should have said something when Peter left the apartment slamming the door and steaming with anger, leaving the couple behind, gaping and worried, after all, they never saw Peter have such an attitude.

May knew by looking into her husband's eyes that he felt bad for shouting at Peter, so he put on a coat, gave May a quick kiss, and promised to bring Peter home.

Then a few hours later Peter came home, bloodied and in tears, and Ben was gone forever.

Peter changed again after that, all the bad attitude he'd grown up in the last month of dissolving and the sweet boy she'd always known came back again, something she deeply appreciated since she didn't know if she could get through it without Peter's support. But after-school departures and late-night home arrivals didn't stop, May sometimes seeing him try to hide a bruise or two, maybe a cut she always tried to disinfect while he was sleeping and the first thing she thought was that he was in gangs.

Before it was so simple.

Five months after Ben's death, Tony Stark appears at his door with an internship opportunity for Peter. And ok, she knew that Peter was smart, that he had potential, and that he could actually earn an internship at one of the most renowned - if not _the _most renowned - companies in the world, but for Tony Stark himself to come to his door to advertise directly to Peter that he got it, it seemed out of this world.

So the next day Peter went on a field trip to Germany, and came back 3 days later seeming to have won the lottery 10 times. May could accept that, was Peter happy? So she was happy.

Two and a half months later he missed the internship, 2 weeks later she found out that her son was the vigilante who helped her to retrieve the stolen bag a few weeks ago, and then everything, _everything_ fit together perfectly.

It yielded a long, very long conversation, where Peter told her everything from the spider bite at Oscorp - where she wanted to sue the company for bodily harm - to the money fights he got himself into at night, then Ben's death. - in which he was extremely vague, which May found to be an unsurpassed trauma yet. _Hell_, she hasn't gotten over yet. - the afternoons and evenings he spent helping people with his powers and the internship in the SI that was actually a facade for his practice of superheroism.

So May wanted to kill Tony Stark, first by taking him to Germany to fight Captain America, because come on, it's _Captain_ _America_! And then everything else. But Peter asked her not to and explained how after that the man tried to stop him from getting into trouble. They set rules and Peter followed them most of the time.

Then there was another school field trip a year later, and she watched on TV the attack of the aliens, Tony with a wizard she couldn't figure out the origin of, and Peter, because _of_ _course_ he wouldn't be left out like a normal teenager.

Then she tried to call him, Tony - before finding out he was gone - to Happy, but no one answered his calls, and then a strange feeling of lightness before seeing his arms begin to disappear, his throat went dry, she blinked in fright, and then her eyes flew back to normal again, as if nothing had happened, at least until she saw two strangers sitting on a couch that wasn't hers, watching a TV that wasn't hers, but in her apartment. .

She definitely panicked, and as the outsiders fought over something she couldn't give a damn about, May picked up the phone and called Happy, the man answering the second call.

Now, seven hours later, she was sitting beside him, listening to him talk about everything that had happened in a low voice, so as not to wake up - _Tony Stark's daughter_! - the little girl sleeping soundly in the back seat as she drove upstate.

Within 2 hours she discovered that Peter have been into space five years ago with Tony, they fought a genocidal alien but lost, and that same alien turned half the universal population into dust, including her and Peter. That Tony figured out a way to get everyone back, but that the shit hit the fan and that same alien that was supposed to be dead was actually alive and destroyed all the avengers' HQ and started a new battle.

May couldn't keep up, because she couldn't think of anything but Peter, that her son went to the damn space to fight a dangerous guy and then died with half the population, including her, just to get back into another fight. It was too much, it was too scary, and May Parker hadn't signed up for this shit.

Now here, on the destroyed battlefield, with fallen, wounded or dead real people, everything seemed even more real, his son was there, _his son was there_, fighting like big people, a big people battle, and so he was hurt in a foreign country with no one, without _her_, and it was too much,_ it was too much_, and not two steps after getting out of the car she fell, her hands on her chest as tears ran down her cheeks because it should not be a teenager's reality as sweet and kind and with a serious self-preservation problem as Peter, she could clearly see his boy throwing himself headlong into danger.

"May, it's okay, come on ..." It was Happy, his hands were gentle on her arms helping her to her feet, supporting her until she sat on the bench she had just gotten up, offering her a handkerchief but he even bent to wipe away tears when she had no reaction, gently, so gently…

"Happy…"

“Yes?” He asked, somewhat nervous but trying hard to mask his growing discomfort. Realizing this, she took the handkerchief from her trembling hand and wiped her tears herself, taking a few deep breaths to try to calm herself, blocking the sight of pain and death around her and focusing on the man who helped her.

"I have to go to him. I need to see Peter.”

"Yes, I can do that, but I think we'll have to talk to Captain America first."

Yes, _yes_ she would talk to Captain America if that meant she could see her son again.

The 'heroes' she knew were all inside a tent erected precariously a little away from all the confusion, several others were also standing where May saw the wounded take, this one being the first and most privileged. Happy led her there with Morgan as if it were nothing, seeing there more than half the renegade heroes and a few more, all turning to them at once with fierce and haunted glances, as if expecting an upcoming attack.

"Wow, calm down." Happy asked a little scared turning around to protect Morgan, but relaxing when they relaxed. "Where's Pepper?"

"She called Kimoyo for half an hour asking if you had arrived with Morgan. I said I'd ask a… wizard to open a portal for you when you arrive.” Captain America said, looking very tired, she guessed he probably should be.

"I had to make a detour." Happy explained giving May room to pass, feeling very small in front of so many big and muscular men and ... that was Thor with a beer belly? "This is May Parker, Spider-Man's aunt."

Steve raised an eyebrow, but then relaxed as he seemed to turn on the facts and approached, extending a hand to May.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Parker, you can call me Steve." He said, his hand outstretched, but May didn't catch her.

“You forgive my hesitation, hm, Steve, but for me a few hours ago you were still wanted by the government. No offense.”

“None.” He answered, but May was not blind, could see Steve's doggy look well, was very similar to Peter's. "But believe me when I say we're on the same side here."

“I wait.” She replied, more confident, finally taking the big hand in hers. "How is my son?"

“Your _son_?”

"Peter, the Spiderman." She clarified feeling increasingly agitated.

"Oh…" He answered looking sad, too sad, and May felt her heart tighten, tears coming back to her eyes as she released Steve's hand and walked away. Why not, just not. "Please calm down, Mrs. Parker."

"Don't ask me to calm down, just don’t! Peter is just a kid, he's sixteen for God's sake! Happy said he went to space and- and fought a genocidal alien I’m not- I…

She was breathless, out of strength, and believed she could fall to the ground at any moment if the hands of a man - whom she came to know to be the Hawkeye by Peter's constant hero worship - had not held her at that moment.

"Fine, fine, we understand, Mrs. Parker, please sit down."

"He shouldn't be here, he should be on the damn school trip he said he would go before leaving home! He didn't- he went into space for God's sake!”

"It's not such an unusual occurrence, young lady, but I understand your distress. Spiderman has done an amazing job on the battlefield and is now being treated by the best.

"But he shouldn't!" She shouted, unable to take it anymore. "Don't you understand that he shouldn't be on a battlefield to begin with ?! He's a damn kid and the only worries he should have was with pimples, school notes and girls! He's not… he's all I have… please, _please_, I need to see him.”

"You will, Mrs. Parker. Don't worry, Steve went to call someone who can take you there and then everything will be fine.

But it wouldn't, she felt it wouldn't be that easy.

\---

_Now_

May listened attentively to the woman - or not, that girl was still a teenager, right? It should be at Peter's age or at most a year or two older! - announce all the news, but all she got was news from Tony and May already felt her nerves flush with her skin, her leg pounding the floor and the stubborn tears starting to run down her cheeks. When she was done and nothing more was said she couldn't take it anymore.

"And my baby? What happened to my Peter?”

“You are…?”

"She is Spiderman's aunt, Shuri." Pepper explained simply, putting Morgan down and approaching to wrap an arm around May.

"Oh, in that case my brother is a better source of information."

"Yes, to begin with your nephew is alive, Mrs. Parker." May's tense shoulders dropped immediately with relief. "But he came here with very serious injuries."

"Please don't cover anything with sugar, I'm a nurse, I'll know very well what happened if you told me…"

“Very well, Peter Parker had fractured and broken ribs, a punctured lung, ruptured bowel, minor arm burns, and many complications during surgery from his improved body, our strongest medications didn't seem to work long enough. He woke up several times during surgery, but we managed to stabilize him and then finish the operation a few hours ago and he's sleeping now.”

"_God_ ..." she whispered, tired, so tired. She knew Peter healed fast, she knew it would be practically nothing to him if he came out of it with a scar or two on the skin would be too much. "Thank you, King T'Challa, I will do anything to repay you…"

“Don't worry, he saved my life, my sister's and Tony's and many others yesterday, if anything, I should repay him.”

"Thank you… thank you very much… can I see him? I…”

"I fear I have to stop you now, Mrs. Parker. In addition to all the problems, I believe you are aware of Peter's enhanced senses?”

“Yes… yes, he had some overloads at home.

"It's basically what's going on now, it's all been so intense and he's having a severe sensory overload, Dr. Strange has chosen to leave him in a soundproof room with minimal lighting so that he can recover." It is being monitored and any changes in your health we will know and treat immediately, you can rest easy.

May wouldn't be quiet, not until she could see Peter with her own eyes, touch him with her own hands and take care of him like his son he was, but she could try to calm down now, and she would wait, if it was for Peter's sake, she would expect.

**Author's Note:**

> Explanation of some medical terms
> 
> 1- The shock is a medical term for an occasion of chaos in the body where the tissues do not receive enough blood and therefore run out of oxygen. One type of shock is hypotensive shock, where very low blood pressure, either from bleeding or over-medication, makes it difficult for blood to reach tissues, as there is no pressure to push blood into the vessels.
> 
> 2- The pleura is a thin two-layer film between the lung and ribcage, which contains a minimal amount of fluid between the layers, and is intended to assist in the expansion and retraction of the lungs during respiration. When fluid (blood, pus, etc.) enters this space between the two layers of the pleura, the lung does not move properly within the chest, and the patient experiences an absurd pain and difficulty breathing. It is the pleural effusion. In Stark's case, we call it a massive stroke because there was a lot of blood.
> 
> 3- Midazolam is a sedative, anxiolytic drug that helps calm patients before surgery.
> 
> 4- Debridement is a process of removing dead, burnt, damaged tissue.
> 
> 5- Kelly Forceps is a surgical forceps called hemostatics, which is used to control bleeding during surgeries. She "hugs" the vessels and stops the circulation in front of her, stopping the bleeding.
> 
> 6- Arteriorrhaphy is a process of suturing the ruptured artery to stop the bleeding. The lower gastric artery is one of the major vessels of the abdomen, supplying stomach and spleen.
> 
> 7- Ringer lactate is a fluid used to expand the patient's volume, that is, to replenish the volume of body fluid in a patient who is losing a lot of blood.
> 
> The medicines mentioned and their measurements should not be purchased for personal use, only trained professionals should have access to these medicines. Please, this is a fictional story, do nothing described here at home.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed that and be anxious for the continuation.


End file.
